Occupational Health Among Dental Personnel: Respiratory Hazards, Lung Diseases, and Mental Health

This past installment of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine grand rounds, on Friday 27-Septermber-2024, focused on occupational health among dental personnel as described by Ethan Fechter-Leggett, DVM, MVPM, Brie H. Blackley, PhD, and Suzanne Tomasi, DVM, MPH. Dr. Brie Hawley Blackley received her BS in Animal Science (Pre-Veterinary Medicine) with minors in Biochemistry and English from the University of Delaware. She then went on to obtain an MS in Industrial Hygiene, and a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from Colorado State University. After obtaining her doctorate in 2014, she joined the Field Studies Branch of the Respiratory Health Division at NIOSH and currently serves as an Research Industrial Hygienist with an active role in the Health Hazard Evaluation program and multiple research projects, with research interests spanning from exposures and health outcomes in dental settings, coffee production, to healthcare settings more broadly. Dr. Ethan Fechter-Leggett (he/him) is a Research Epidemiologist in CDC NIOSH’s Respiratory Health Division/Field Studies Branch. His main research projects at NIOSH are on interstitial lung diseases in dental personnel, surgical smoke exposures among veterinary personnel, and respiratory hazards and health effects in coffee processing workers. He joined CDC in 2013 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in environmental health before joining NIOSH in 2015. He holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Tufts University, a Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVM) from the University of California, Davis, and a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from the University of Vermont. Dr. Suzanne Tomasi is a 2005 graduate of The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2013, she pursued a Master of Public Health with a specialization in veterinary public health. She furthered her credentials by becoming a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. After graduate school, she was accepted into the CDC epidemiology fellowship as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer and matched with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the Respiratory Health Division. She currently works at NIOSH as a veterinary epidemiologist with a focus on veterinarian occupational health.